Yom Kippur - Articles - Zimbio

A Desert Tomboy's Yom Kippur Reflections

Tue, 8 Oct 2008 21:04:00 GMT

posted by beckychr007

Sundown tonight is the start of Yom Kippur—the Jewish Day of Atonement. So I am racing against the clock. After the big feast tonight I know there will be no eating, drinking, leather shoes—and no sex.

I don’t know about blog viewing—but figured I best rush just in case. And I guess this is really for my Jewish friends –since I'm afraid most of the rest won’t care all that much—but I kinda hope you will.

I know there have to be Jews out here in the desert. In fact I once contemplated earning the Noble Peace Prize by starting a movement to relocate Jerusalem to a desolate piece of land north of Scottsdale. Why not –we have London Bridge?

But during the years I was a New Englander it was impossible not to notice all the folks who were missing in action-- spending the day atoning.

When I lived in San Francisco I was a bit of a fag hag. Though I hate to fuel the stupid stereotype, a few of my buds were Jewish guy-gays—feygelahs. I am thinking of two in particular. This one would only attend the Kol Nidre in the evening (what us Catholics would call the vigil) and the Neila the following evening (what us Catholics don’t have a name for).

But he didn’t like the afternoon service, even though this would seem to be a nice break from sexless fasting. For it was in the afternoon when they read all the Leviticus sex laws. The other fellow never missed the opportunity to have his sinfulness spelled out and thrown in his face. He felt it was empowering. I don’t understand this —but I admire the moral gymnastics required--they impress even a wanton Catholic girl.

I was really impressed when a renegade Jewish American Princess pointed out to me that Leviticus only frowns on men laying with men—says nothing about the girls. That cute little dyke was probably thinking like a Meshugah, but all I could say was Ani ohevet otchah.

Although I am no theologian it seems the Jews are into some pretty detailed laws handed down from above. Us Catholics think the big thing is doing a lot of good stuff and gaining heavenly brownie points—the much-maligned “indulgences.” There is stuff like saying the Rosary and Stations of the Cross during Lent. But a bit more sometimes. Like how from time to time I used to stand with with others in “silence witness” outside abortion mills.

But, one day I decided that causing moral anguish to women who were already struggling in a real life way is at least as sinful as what they were about to do—only G-o-d knows for sure. From that day on I made decision to never again identify myself as “pro-life”--not because my views on this have changed, but because it implies that these women, my sisters, are anti-life.

Martin Luther didn’t like the idea of earning your way into heaven. So with the Protestants it is all about being a free gift from G-o-d. But they do good things too. And maybe that is a better spirit than with us Catholics—doing it with no expectation of reward. But I have to admit with some, at times, it does seem more than a bit show-offish.

But Yom Kippur is about getting beyond all the crappiness we humans have managed to do to one another in the past year and starting again. Christians don’t really have anything like this. Catholics do have the confessional thing—but hardly anyone goes anymore. We also have a whole cache of somber holidays—no one gets into suffering like Catholics. Look at how the nuns used to wear “hair shirts” that ripped their skin to shreds to show how holy they were. I guess the Jewish equivalent of that kind of misery is a few missed meals.

However, for Jews it is more than having some penitential order of sisters flagellating themselves for our general good or making peace with G-o-d as we rush through a few Hail Mary’s. Yom Kippur is not a free ticket. You have to make right what you’ve made wrong. And one of the things that is wrong is if one has not forgiven others—bad for oneself. Of course there was a pretty famous renegade rabbi that made a big deal out of this as well.

Although I must admit I wish they would do away with that creepy and cruel chicken thing, I do want to wish my Jewish friends well. I know that fasting holidays are tough on you since eating is such a central part of the Jewish experience.

Say the name of any Jewish holiday and the first thing that pops into the heads of most people is the food associated with the event. Passover: matzah and gefilte fish, Hanukkah: latkes and chocolate coins, Rosh Hashanah: apples and honey, Shabbat: chicken soup and brisket.

But Yom Kippur?

HELP—WE’RE STARVING!!!

Shavna Tovah

Yom Kippur

Sun, 10 Nov 2008 12:27:37 GMT

posted by macgunu

Yom Kippur is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many Jews who do not observe any other Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast and/or attend synagogue services on this day. Yom Kippur occurs on the 10th day of Tishri. The holiday is instituted at Leviticus 23:26 et seq.

The name “Yom Kippur” means “Day of Atonement,” and that pretty much explains what the holiday is. It is a day set aside to “afflict the soul,” to atone for the sins of the past year. On Yom Kippur, the judgment entered in the books where all our names and deeds are recorded is sealed. This day is, essentially, your last appeal, your last chance to change the judgment, to demonstrate your repentance and make amends.

Yom Kippur atones only for sins between man and God, not for sins against another person. To atone for sins against another person, you must first seek reconciliation with that person, righting the wrongs you committed against them if possible. That must all be done before Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath; no work can be performed on that day. It is well-known that you are supposed to refrain from eating and drinking (even water) on Yom Kippur. It is a complete, 25-hour fast beginning before sunset on the evening before Yom Kippur and ending after nightfall on the day of Yom Kippur. The Talmud also specifies additional restrictions that are less well-known: washing and bathing, anointing one’s body (with cosmetics, deodorants, etc.), wearing leather shoes (Orthodox Jews routinely wear canvas sneakers under their dress clothes on Yom Kippur), and engaging in sexual relations are all prohibited on Yom Kippur.

As always, any of these restrictions can be lifted where a threat to life or health is involved. In fact, children under the age of nine and women in childbirth (from the time labor begins until three days after birth) are not permitted to fast, even if they want to. Older children and women from the third to the seventh day after childbirth are permitted to fast, but are permitted to break the fast if they feel the need to do so. People with other illnesses should consult a physician and a rabbi for advice.

Most of the holiday is spent in the synagogue, in prayer. In Orthodox synagogues, services begin early in the morning (8 or 9 AM) and continue until about 3 PM>. People then usually go home for an afternoon nap and return around 5 or 6 PM for the afternoon and evening services, which continue until nightfall. The services end at nightfall, with the blowing of the tekiah gedolah, a long blast on the shofar. See Rosh Hashanah for more about the shofar and its characteristic blasts.

It is customary to wear white on the holiday, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow (Is. 1:18). Some people wear a kittel, the white robe in which the dead are buried.

Yom Kippur Liturgy

The liturgy for Yom Kippur is much more extensive than for any other day of the year. Liturgical changes are so far-reaching that a separate, special prayer book for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. This prayer book is called the machzor.

The evening service that begins Yom Kippur is commonly known as Kol Nidre, named for the prayer that begins the service. “Kol nidre” means “all vows,” and in this prayer, we ask God to annul all personal vows we may make in the next year. It refers only to vows between the person making them and God, such as “If I pass this test, I’ll pray every day for the next 6 months!” Click the speaker to hear a portion of the traditional tune for this prayer.

This prayer has often been held up by anti-Semites as proof that Jews are untrustworthy (we do not keep our vows), and for this reason the Reform movement removed it from the liturgy for a while. In fact, the reverse is true: we make this prayer because we take vows so seriously that we consider ourselves bound even if we make the vows under duress or in times of stress when we are not thinking straight. This prayer gave comfort to those who were converted to Christianity by torture in various inquisitions, yet felt unable to break their vow to follow Christianity. In recognition of this history, the Reform movement restored this prayer to its liturgy.

There are many additions to the regular liturgy. Perhaps the most important addition is the confession of the sins of the community, which is inserted into the Shemoneh Esrei (Amidah) prayer. Note that all sins are confessed in the plural (we have done this, we have done that), emphasizing communal responsibility for sins.

There are two basic parts of this confession: Ashamnu, a shorter, more general list (we have been treasonable, we have been aggressive, we have been slanderous…), and Al Chet, a longer and more specific list (for the sin we sinned before you forcibly or willingly, and for the sin we sinned before you by acting callously…) Frequent petitions for forgiveness are interspersed in these prayers. There’s also a catch-all confession: “Forgive us the breach of positive commands and negative commands, whether or not they involve an act, whether or not they are known to us.”

It is interesting to note that these confessions do not specifically address the kinds of ritual sins that some people think are the be-all-and-end-all of Judaism. There is no “for the sin we have sinned before you by eating pork, and for the sin we have sinned against you by driving on Shabbat” (though obviously these are implicitly included in the catch-all). The vast majority of the sins enumerated involve mistreatment of other people, most of them by speech (offensive speech, scoffing, slander, talebearing, and swearing falsely, to name a few). These all come into the category of sin known as “lashon ha-ra” (lit: the evil tongue), which is considered a very serious sin in Judaism.

The concluding service of Yom Kippur, known as Ne’ilah, is one unique to the day. It usually runs about 1 hour long. The ark (a cabinet where the scrolls of the Torah are kept) is kept open throughout this service, thus you must stand throughout the service. There is a tone of desperation in the prayers of this service. The service is sometimes referred to as the closing of the gates; think of it as the “last chance” to get in a good word before the holiday ends. The service ends with a very long blast of the shofar. See Rosh Hashanah for more about the shofar and its characteristic blasts.

After Yom Kippur, one should begin preparing for the next holiday, Sukkot, which begins five days later.

List of Dates

Yom Kippur will occur on the following days on the American calendar:

September 25, 2004 (Jewish Year 5765)
October 13, 2005 (Jewish Year 5766)

The End of Neilah

And, at the end of Neilah, with the closing of the Gates of Prayer as Yom Kippur draws to a close, the Service rises to a crescendo:

We declare in unison, “Hear O Israel, the L-rd is our G-d; the L-rd is One!”

Then three times, “Blessed is the Name of His Glorious Kingdom for all Eternity!”

And finally, seven times, “The L-rd is G-d!”

We acknowledge the departure of the “Shekhina,” the Divine Presence, with a “Tekiah Gedolah!” a Great “Tekiah,” a long straight blast of the Shofar. At this time, there is no room for sighing or wailing. We have hopefully been forgiven, and our sins have been atoned for. We look forward to our Redemption; May it come in the blink of an eye!

http://www.ou.org/chagim/yomkippur/default.htm

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm

http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/1231

http://urj.org/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=23392&destination=ShowItem

What does Yom Kippur mean?Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement.” Yom Kippur, the most somber day of the year is called Shabbat Shabbaton, the “Sabbath of Sabbaths” in the Bible. On this day devoted to reflection and repentance, healthy adults fast from all food and drink from sunset to sunset.

What happens in the home for Yom Kippur?

Although this is probably the least home-based of all holidays, it begins and ends with a family meal. The evening meal is cooked with a mind to the fast ahead, so generally it is neither too heavy nor too spicy. Unlike other festival dinners, candle lighting takes place afterwards, marking the official start of Yom Kippur and the fast. After eating and before lighting the festival candles, it is traditional to light a candle in memory of family members who have died. Special yahrzeit (“year’s-time”) candles are available in Judaica shops and some supermarkets. These candles are lit without formal blessing, though some people say a silent prayer. After eating, the Yom Kippur candles are lit with the following blessing:

Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheynu Melech Ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Yom HaKippurim.

Blessed are You, Holy One of Blessing, who makes us holy with commandments and call us to kindle the lights of Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur ends with a light meal to break the fast. This repast has no formal rituals or ceremony apart from the blessing over bread, Hamotzi.

5 Food prepared in advance is usually set out, buffet style, while family and friends discuss the relative difficulty of their fasts and the content of their rabbis’ sermons. It is a mitzvah to invite to your table anyone who might have nowhere else to break the fast. Many families contribute both money and canned goods to help feed the hungry. Synagogues often collect food for distribution to local pantries.

How do we atone for our sins? Yom Kippur atones only for sins between humanity and God, not for sins against another person. To atone for sins against another person, you must first apologize, righting the wrongs you committed if possible. This must all be done before the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

What is the Jewish definition of sin?

In Judaism, the word “sin” has different connotations than it does in our wider culture. “Sin” in Judaism is generally not something for which a person will be punished in the afterlife, but is rather an improper act for which one can ask forgiveness—not just of God, but of other human beings as well.

What is Kol Nidre?

Services begin with the haunting melody of Kol Nidre, the opening prayer and also the name of the evening service. Kol Nidre is an Aramaic declaration that nullifies all the vows and promises that each person will make to God and to him/herself in the coming year, an acknowledgment of the weakness of human resolution.

What happens at Synagogue Yom Kippur day?

Yom Kippur service run throughout most of the day: Shacharit, the morning service, includes a Torah reading from Leviticus that describes the sacrificial rites for Yom Kippur in the Temple. Some congregations choose to substitute another Torah reading, often Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20, which ends with the lines “I have put before you this day life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life.” The morning Haftarah reading is Isaiah’s passionate sermon demanding justice and decrying religious hypocrisy. Musaf, the “additional” service that follows Shacharit, includes recitation of the martyrology, which begins with a list of the murders of Talmudic sages by the Romans, and describes other persecutions culminating with the Nazi Holocaust.

Yom Kippur Begins

Tue, 8 Oct 2008 21:59:26 GMT

posted by tatiana
Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi David Nissimov whips a Jewish boy with a leather strap as a symbolic punishment for his sins during the traditional Malkot ceremony just hours before the start of Yom Kippur at a synagogue October,08, 2007 in Jerusalem, Israel. The Jewish state comes to a complete halt for the Day of Atonement - a period of fasting, reflection and prayers on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images Europe)

Sundown Wednesday marked the beginning of Yom Kippur. For religious Jews around the world this is the holiest day of the calendar year.

Life in Israel basically comes to a halt as shops close on this all-important Day of Atonement. Those who observe Yom Kippur will fast and pray in synagogues, seeking forgiveness for their wrong doings against God.

Yom Kippur marks the final day of the Ten Days of Repentance, which began with Rosh Hashanah. According to Jewish tradition, on this final day God will seal the observing person's fate for the coming year.

Leading up to Yom Kippur, ultra-Orthodox Jews participate in Kaparot, a symbolic tradition where a person transfers his sins to a chicken then slaughters the animal and eats it.
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man performs the kaparot ceremony on his family, October 06, 2008 in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem. According to Jewish beliefs, the ritual is supposed to transfer the sins of the past year to the chicken, which is then ritually slaughtered. Kaparot is performed before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. (Photo by Getty Images Europe)

This year also marks the 35th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Israel suffered heavy losses in 1973 after Egypt and Syria launched surprise attacks on the country as Yom Kippur began. Israel fought back almost defeating the Egyptian army, before a cease-fire was called.
YOM KIPPUR WAR. ALUF ARIEL SHARON ADDRESSING ONE OF THE UNITS ON THE WEST BANK OF THE SUEZ CANAL. (Photo by * Government Press Office */L3450-4)

Yom Kippur lasts 25-hours and ends at sundown the following day. At that point religious Jews consider themselves absolved by God.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man performs the kaparot ceremony, October 06,2008 in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem. According to Jewish beliefs, the ritual is supposed to transfer the sins of the past year to the chicken, which is then ritually slaughtered. Kaparot is performed before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. (Photo by Getty Images Europe)

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A Day to Bare Our Souls - and Find Ourselves

Sun, 20 Oct 2008 01:24:00 GMT

posted by barbarany_9
The lack of ritual makes Yom Kippur's power elusive for many. How do we make meaning from the holiest but most daunting day on the Jewish calendar?

By Rahel Musleah

My friend Anat dreads Yom Kippur. Fasting makes her grumpy, and by morning she already has a headache. Nor does the synagogue setting encourage atonement, meditation or self-reflection for her. As a nonobservant Jew, she says, "my relationship with God is such that I can't even begin to atone for what I do—nor do I want to. What's left are my relationships with other people, and I try to take care of those on a daily basis."

Still, says Anat, the strong aura of the day, redolent of childhood and community, draws her to spend Yom Kippur in the synagogue. "If this is a holy day I'll treat it as such and stand with others around me. Every year I think about the millions of people who are doing exactly what I am doing on Yom Kippur. It doesn't matter how secular I am. This is my commitment as a Jew."

For another friend, Betsy Schrieber, Yom Kippur is part of the flow of fall holidays that reminds her of a vinyasa, a series of Yoga movements that includes standing, bending, reaching, breathing, jumping back, pressing down, lifting up, jumping forward, bending, then back to standing. The holiday vinyasa includes planning: drinking less coffee to avoid a Yom Kippur headache (often from caffeine withdrawal), buying clothes for the kids, organizing and making meals, housing out-of-town family and guests, deciding who's making the break-fast, scheduling sukkah-building.

"After all the practical and logistical issues are dealt with, we go to synagogue and there is nothing else to be done but focus on the spiritual," says Schrieber. "What a gift! It's really a relief in many ways. The contrast between the spiritual quiet and the happy but hectic noise of preparation becomes sharply apparent as soon as we sit down in our High Holiday assigned seats. Lack of food is a welcome breather for the chief cook, who is all too well nourished to begin with and could live in Siberia for a year with one potato and a jug of water. The movements—the vinyasa—shift to a more inner dance. The singing, standing up, sitting down, swaying and praying—that is just the vehicle to bring my energies into a spiritual focus."

Preparing for Yom Kippur would surpass Passover in degree of difficulty if we did it the way Jewish tradition envisioned it. It's an inner cleansing rather than an external scouring, beginning in Elul, the month that precedes Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hodesh Elul, which falls this year on August 28, initiates an introspective process, a period of teshuvah (literally, "returning"; usually translated "repentance") that culminates in Yom Kippur. Few rituals surround Yom Kippur itself. The biblical injunction [Lev. 16:21] states: ve-initem et nafshoteichem—You shall afflict your souls—so food, sex, bathing and adorning ourselves are forbidden. These prohibitions do not stop the Mishnah (tractate Ta'anit) from classifying Yom Kippur as one of the most joyous days of the year. Maimonides interprets the rules not as denying the body its needs, but as allowing it the opportunity for rest and re-creation.

It is customary to wear white (some don a kittel—a white overgarment), which emphasizes the idea of sameness and purity and lessens the focus on appearance. "Standing without all the colors we surround ourselves with gives us transparency. We don't cover over who we are," says Gail Twersky Reimer, editor of Beginning Anew: A Woman's Companion to the High Holy Days (Simon & Schuster) and director of the Jewish Women's Archive in Brookline, Mass.

Many also avoid leather, once a luxury. "Yom Kippur is the one day it's cool to wear a suit with sneakers, leather or not. It distinguishes the day as different from any other synagogue day," says Michael Strassfeld, author of A Book of Life: Embracing Judaism as a Spiritual Practice (Schocken) and rabbi of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism based in Manhattan.

The lack of ritual makes Yom Kippur's power elusive for many. No huge feast demands hours in the kitchen paring, baking and roasting—unless we fill that void with an elaborate break-the-fast. Then there's a whole day that's meant to be spent in synagogue with an unfamiliar prayer book, words of judgment, repetitious lists of sins, talk of life and death. How do we make meaning from the holiest but most daunting day on the Jewish calendar?

"To approach Yom Kippur without the context of the other holidays and special times around it is like trying to isolate a wave in the sea," says Alan Lew, author of the new book This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation (Little, Brown) and rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco. "There is the daily contemplation of Elul; selihot services the week before Rosh Hashanah; Rosh Hashanah itself; then 10 days of active transformation. Yom Kippur is the grand finale."

"Yom Kippur only works if there is a process of stock-taking and teshuvah prior to the day itself," agrees Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. "There's no shortcut." Beginning in Elul, Kula spends about a half-hour each day in meditation and reflection, assessing his relationships with his wife, children, parents, brothers—recognizing, regretting, repairing and reconciling. He tries to remember specific examples of hurts—impatience with his daughter when they were doing homework together; not calling home for three days when he was away on a trip. "Recognizing is the hardest part," he says. "The more honest I am beforehand, the better Yom Kippur is."

During Kol Nidrei, the solemn, opening prayer that releases us from our vows, Kula says he lets go of his "noble but distorting" obligations as father, husband, son, CLAL president. "You can lose yourself in roles and promises. If I'm really free of all these and I'm alone, at the end of Yom Kippur I recognize if these are obligations I genuinely want, not just expectations." Two years ago, he realized that his position at CLAL was not allowing him to do the things he did best. He requested a sabbatical.

At Aitz Hayim in Chicago, the participatory congregation Kula founded, congregants focus on getting to a "spiritual soft core," chipping away at the "hard shells" that protect from hurt. The lights are turned down during Yizkor, the afternoon memorial service on Yom Kippur, as Kula asks each person to evoke the image of someone from whom to ask forgiveness or to whom they wish to grant it. The prayer Mah anahnu, mah hayenu? (What are we? What are our lives?) inspires a 10-minute "Who am I" exercise, conducted in pairs. Each person is allotted five minutes to answer; then the roles reverse. A sample dialogue:

"Who are you?" "I'm Irwin Kula."

"Who are you?" "I'm a father."

"Who are you?" "I'm a son."

"Who are you?" "I'm a husband."

Kula says, "By the thirtieth question, the answers reach the level of vulnerability."

"Who are you?" "I'm lonely."

"Who are you?" "I'm scared."

Kula stresses that the joyful component of Yom Kippur comes from doing "good inner work. The more vulnerable you are, the more trusting you are, the more joyful you are."

Lew, however, views Yom Kippur's solemnity as outweighing its joyfulness, even reaching the simulation of a near-death experience. "You wear white or a shroudlike kittel. You abstain from life-affirming actions. The liturgy is full of death and the fragility of life." But the nearness of death has its purpose, he says. "It is a great source of vision, a way to make the truth of our lives crystal-clear."

Strassfeld notes: "We all die. Once we face this ultimate truth, we can decide how we want to live life. That's not morbid or depressing."

For those who find joy in eating, fasting can also be a challenge. Its drama has even enticed authors to weave stories around it. The Sholom Aleichem story "A Yom Kippur Scandal" tells of a theft in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. Everyone assents to a search except young Lazer Yussel, reputedly "perfect in everything." When he is finally searched against his will, his pockets reveal "a couple of well-gnawed chicken bones and a few dozen prune pits, still moist from chewing!" The money, alas, is never found.

In Edna Ferber's autobiographical novel Fanny Herself, young Fanny Brandeis decides to fast for the first time on Yom Kippur, only to be faced with temptation in the house of her friend Bella Weinberg. An array of fresh-baked pastries laid out for the break-fast, "fragrant as a garden with spices, and fruit scents, and the melting delectable perfume of brown, freshly baked dough, sugar-coated," causes Fanny to "shut her eyes as if in pain. She was fighting the greatest fight of her life. She was to meet other temptations, and perhaps more glittering ones, in her lifetime, but to her dying day she never forgot that first battle between the flesh and the spirit, there in the sugar-scented pantry—and the spirit won." Fanny turns away and goes back to the synagogue.

"Fasting reminds you that you're human—mind, soul, heart and body," says Strassfeld. Paradoxically, because you're not eating, "you spend a bunch of time thinking about eating." Many religions use fasting as a means of cleansing the body to sharpen the mind.

"Fasting is an important way to feel our own privilege," says Reimer. "We have a choice whether to eat, but that's not a choice we all have. I use fasting to identify with people who don't have enough." As a child of survivors, Reimer grew up with stories of her parents living on a slice of bread a day—or less. "When I fast, part of me connects backward to their history. Then I look forward, to what my obligation is to others in the same place." Her congregation, the Worship and Study Congregation, part of Harvard Hillel, follows Kol Nidrei with an appeal for Project Bread, which provides food for the hungry.

"I often joke that Yom Kippur is the day to invite people for lunch," says Reimer, who nonetheless uses the break in services to run home to set up for the post-fast meal. "It's different than feeding myself," she muses. "It's about my need to feed others." The haftarah—the reading from the Prophets—satisfies her sensitivity toward social justice. "It says that all the outside ritual is unimportant; all that matters is reaffirming our concern for others, our commitment to care for the needy, the outcast and those who are less fortunate."

Not all the readings are as easy for her to relate to. Reimer's book grew out of her perception that despite the centrality of women in High Holiday readings (most notably, Sarah, Hagar, Hannah and Rachel during Rosh Hashanah), their voices were overlooked. The Yom Kippur afternoon Torah reading, an array of sexual prohibitions from Leviticus chapter 18, alienates some women; the Reform movement has substituted Leviticus chapter 19, the holiness code. Others struggle with the imagery of God as a judgmental king. "Being judged as deficient by an outside force is less powerful than looking at myself and asking what I can do better," says Reimer.

Strassfeld offers an alternative interpretation of Yom Kippur as Yom Ha-Din, the Day of Judgment. "I translate the word 'din' as limitation. That is one of the interpretations of the kabbalistic sefirah of din. Yom Kippur then becomes a time to face our limitations and confront mortality."

Gordon Fellman, a professor of sociology at Brandeis University, has not attended Yom Kippur services in about 30 years, except for Kol Nidrei on occasion. "The traditional service is offensive," says Fellman, who was raised Orthodox. "I can't feel good talking about God as omnipotent, all-loving and all-caring." Instead, he and his wife host a two-hour discussion at their home with 12 to 20 friends and visitors. Topics range from forgiveness, to Israel, to being Jewish, depending on what people feel like discussing. "I call it a pot-luck fast," he says. "It's always intensely meaningful, a real conversation."

It's okay to question the liturgy's ideas of God; it's even okay to be confused about whom you are praying to, says Lew. He cities the example of his friend Norman Fischer, who translated the Psalms without ever using the word "God," substituting "You" instead (Opening to You: Zen-Inspired Translations of the Psalms, Penguin Books). "Most people can identify with the fact that some unnamable essential energy is at the center of their lives. Yom Kippur is a day we can touch that energy, as the kohen gadol, the High Priest, did when he entered the kodesh kodashim [Holy of Holies], the empty space so charged with radiant nothingness that no one else could go there. Even the kohen gadol could enter only once a year."

Lew also reassures those whose minds wander during services. Far from being wrong, daydreaming actually heightens awareness, he says. "Your mind wanders, you try to bring your focus back to the siddur, your mind wanders again, you bring it back again. This is the same as the process of focusing during meditation or deep spiritual activity."

Kula suggests homing in on one word or phrase, then connecting with the experience behind it. "If you want a deep experience on Yom Kippur and the clergy doesn't facilitate it, you can do it yourself," he says. "The texts are simple. Who shall live and who shall die. What does this mean to you? You can't make a wrong meaning. If you sit passively in a conventional space, you will have a passive experience. Ask yourself every 10 minutes, 'what meaning does this have for me?' Use the setting: If your grandfather sat in the same pew, or there are plaques everywhere, think about what it means to have a legacy. What is your legacy? What does it mean to sit with 2,000 people? Okay, it's not intimate, but what's the opposite? If it doesn't feel good, why not? If you don't want to use tradition, use your own life. There's no greater text."

Even if you attend services out of obligation, once you're there, don't waste the time, he continues. But, he also cautions, "many don't want a deep experience because it is destabilizing and uncomfortable."

The High Holiday music, with its distinctive melodies, provides another spiritual pathway. Some synagogues use wordless melodies—niggunim—to access emotion without verbal impediment. For Strassfeld, one of the highlights of the service is singing Avinu Malkeinu (Our father our king) as a community.

Therein lies another of Yom Kippur's paradoxes. As alone as we are supposed to be, stripped to the essence, most of us need the comfort of community around us. "The danger of self-reflection is feeling like a terrible person," says Strassfeld. "That's why the confessional [Ashamnu, Bagadnu] is in the plural. 'We have been guilty. We have dealt falsely.' That's why we confess sins we haven't done.

"The balancing act is not to feel like miserable failures but also not to ignore our failures. You find compassion toward yourself when you realize that like you, everyone is imperfect." The story of Jonah emphasizes that balance. "Jonah is focused only on himself," Strassfeld says. "The book's message is that you also have to care for others."

Karen Snow (not her real name), a Jewish educator in Chicago, trades community for spiritual satisfaction: Instead of attending a large traditional synagogue, she spends Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on Lake Michigan's vast beach. When she moved to Chicago, the synagogue she joined couldn't replicate the small, close-knit community in which she grew up. She struggled through services until her children matured so she could be a role model for them. Her youngest son, 17, now joins her at the beach, where they sing everything out loud.

"We're the only ones there, except for the seagulls. They line up toward the sun, facing east—about 30 of them—on a long outcropping of rock stretching into the lake. We joke that's our community, our board of directors. When we do tashlich—throwing the bread that symbolizes our sins into the lake on the second day of Rosh Hashanah—there's nothing like watching the gulls swoop down and fly away with them. If that's not redemptive, what is? We really do get a fresh start. On Yom Kippur, the natural atmosphere helps me to fast. I can put aside all my worldly affairs and focus on redemption in my own life. I feel closer to God." Snow says that she does feel the loss of community; to achieve a balance, she attends services for Kol Nidrei.

The sense of joyful community is often most palpable at Neilah, the closing service that articulates the powerful metaphor of the gates closing. My sister Flora Yavelberg remembers our father, a rabbi in a Sephardic synagogue, striding to the ark to chant the opening hymn, El Nora Alilah (God of Awe), and beginning to sing in a triumphant voice. "When I recited the Amidah silently," she recalls, "I got a chill as I noticed all the kotveinus—'inscribe us in the Book of Life'—turned into hotmeinus—'seal us in the Book of Life.' "

The service ends with the shofar blast, primitive and "powerful beyond the rational," says Strassfeld. "You'd think it would be useful to sound the shofar during all of Yom Kippur, but we are left to ourselves until the end. It's a better conclusion than any words. Rabbinic tradition is ultimately optimistic about human beings and believes change is possible. Yom Kippur ends with a sense of uplift."

Way back in 1890, Ray Frank articulated another potent hope. The first woman to preach formally from a pulpit in the United States, she addressed a congregation in Spokane, Wash., on Yom Kippur, urging them to form a permanent congregation rather than gather just twice a year. "From tonight on," Frank concluded her speech, "resolve to be something."

Words to take with us wherever we are this Yom Kippur. Resolve to be something.

Rahel Musleah is an award-winning freelance writer who lives in Great Neck, N.Y.

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Mercury Retrograde and Yom Kippur Converge. Oh God is Right!

Tue, 8 Oct 2008 18:05:44 GMT

posted by Saralee42

I am a big fan of astrology. I’ve had my natal chart done (yep- I snuck a peek at the last page to see if the ending is good), I’ve had readings, I subscribe to Jonathan Cainer’s on-line service that gives me a personalized daily forecast, I read Susan Miller’s astrology zone… so I’m hooked. I find it revealing and comforting to know that when things aren’t going my way, maybe it’s because there are greater forces at work and to just hang in there.

But… ask me to tell you to explain to you the 12 zodiac signs or what it means when Venus conjuncts the Sun or the Sun squares Saturn… are you kidding me? I have no idea. However! I do know that when the world feels like it’s been turned upside down and everyone is acting strange and unpredictable (did anyone say McCain and Palin?), when life feels like it’s at a standstill and nothing is progressing (the $770 billion dollar bailout), when all forms of communication get totally scrwed up (your cell phone dies, your computer freezes), I can guarantee we are in a Mercury retrograde phase. And sure enough, we’re right there.

It began on September 24 and hold your breath, lasts for another week until October 15. Trust me, it explains a lot. Mercury retrograde is that disconcerting period when we feel like we’re taking two steps backwards and zero steps forward. When we have to focus on the “mis” words like misunderstand, miscommunicate, mistake, mislead, and also the ”re” words- regroup, rescind, reflect, return, repent, reconsider, revisit, remake, retaliate, release, redesign.

In other words, everything old is new again and what you thought was no longer an issue becomes front and center again.

But on the upside, this is supposed to be a chance to get it right, a chance to reflect and better understand what we didn’t learn earlier and then move on. It suddenly dawned on me that tonight marks the eve of the Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Perhaps there is a reason why they are occuring at the same time. After all, Jews do follow the lunar calendar (it’s the year 5769) and the focus of this awe inspiring holiday is to reflect on the year- what we did right and wrong, what we need to apologize for, who we need to forgive, what we need to do better going forward, etc. It is also about seeking repentance.

Is it possible that the timing of these two events- the day of atonement and Mercury retrograde have coincided for a reason? That for all of us, regardless of religious background, we must stop what we’re doing and take time for careful consideration, thoughtful analysis, honest understanding and passionate reflection? Our world would certainly be best served if we did all take the time to ponder our failings and make a pledge to do better.

Happy New Year and let us pray that this new beginning brings us to a better place and that our mortal reflections and commitments put us in the book of life. Truly, there is none more important.

SPEAKING OF BOOKS…

I am happy and proud to announce that I was recently inducted by the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit, a group of wonderful women authors who help each other by introducing readers to their latest books. There was no hell week like a sorority, and we don’t get jackets like a volleyball team, but we network and help get the word out about great new books to look for. The first one I want to tell you about is called WATER WITCH by Deborah LeBlanc (Dorchester Publishing, October 2008) This is a modern horror story, perfect for Halloween reading and gift giving. From the great accolades this book has earned, this looks like one spookily good yarn. Boo!!!!!

Here’s the story:

Dunny knew from an early age what it meant to be an outsider. Her special abilities earned her many names, like freak and water witch. So she vowed to keep her powers a secret. But now her talents may be the only hope of two missing children. A young boy and girl have vanished, feared lost in the mysterious Louisiana bayous. But they didn’t just disappear, they were taken. And amid the ghosts and spirits of the swamp, there is a danger worse than any other, one with very special plans for the children-and for anyone who dares to interfere.

To check out the book trailer on Water Witch, visit: http://www.deborahleblanc.com/index.cfm

“One of the best new voices of modern horror.” -Cemetery Dance

“It’s now official: Deborah LeBlanc has become a master not only of good spooky stories, but also of crafting great characters to fill them.” -The Horror Fiction Review

“An imaginative chiller. Riveting!” -Publishers Weekly on Family Inheritance

“A solid haunted house thriller.” -Midwest Book Review on A House Divided

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deborah LeBlanc is an award-winning author from Lafayette, Louisiana. She is also a business owner, a licensed death scene investigator, and an active member of two national paranormal investigation teams. Deborah’s unique experiences, enthusiasm, and high-energy level make her a much sought after speaker at writers’ conferences across the nation. She also takes her passion for literacy and a powerful ability to motivate to high schools around the country.

She is the president of the Horror Writers Association, president of the Writers’ Guild of Acadiana, president of Mystery Writers of America’s Southwest Chapter, and an active member of Sisters in Crime, the National Association of Women Writers, and International Thriller Writers Inc. In 2004, Deborah created the LeBlanc Literacy Challenge, an annual, national campaign designed to encourage more people to read, and soon after founded Literacy Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting illiteracy in America’s teens. Her latest novel is WATER WITCH.

For more information, please go to www.deborahleblanc.com and www.literacyinc.com

In Deborah’s own words: When I first started writing, I had been in business for more years than I cared to remember. At first, I thought the two entities (writing and business) had absolutely nothing in common, so I tried separating the two. It didn’t take long for me to realize how big a mistake that assumption was. Writing is a business, just different from the ones I was used to. Needless to say, though, as I restructured my thinking and attempted to merge the two together, I met with frustration of the highest order. Argg! As some of you have heard me spout off about before, publishing does not follow any standard business practice known to man, woman, or wooly-back orangutan. It’s its own worst enemy at times.

That being said, however, I decided to take the advice of a man I’d admired for years. One whose wisdom has helped me understand the meaning of success, which inevitably moved me up the ladder in quite a few corporations. I figured why not use those same principles in writing?

So I did. And I’ll be damn if they didn’t prove to be just as true in the publishing business as in any other venture.

Look for Deborah’s new book and thanks for visiting.